I finally finished the dress for the wedding! I used an old pattern from 1975 that I hadn't ever touched before... it either used to belong to my mom or I picked it up second-hand somewhere, I'm not sure which. I had to alter the pattern since it was in a size 12 and I'm more like a size 16, but it turns out this pattern is very forgiving, and it turned out great! I just added 1/2" to each seam allowance and eye-balled the curves.
The pattern is supposed to attach the halter-strap behind the neck with buttons, but I never liked that kind of attachment. I find that anything behind the neck, depending on your position, will get too tight or too loose. Here's what I did instead:
First, I measured the overlap when the straps were sitting comfortably behind my neck.
Then, I sewed a tube of fabric about 1.5" longer than that length and the width of the strap. I then cut out 2 strips of elastic (I didn't have any wide elastic) a little longer than the length of the overlap.
I placed the strips of fabric side by side in the fabric tube. I then cut the straps down to eliminate the overlapping ends entirely, but keeping 1/4" seam allowance, which I then folded into the strap. After that, just slip the tube and elastics into the strap, and sew the whole thing!
I pushed the fabric of the tube down until it is level with the end of the elastics (I exaggerated a bit here to show the elastic), then sewed the other side in a similar way.
Voila! A comfortable halter strap! And if you're wondering about the tape on my back, I have had to have that lately to keep my muscles in the correct place. It's all to help get rid of some neck/shoulder problems that I can thank working in front of a computer for...
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